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Pa. teen sentenced to 15 to 40 years

BENSALEM, Pa. (AP) — A Pennsylvania teen charged in a 12-year-old girl’s death after another teen reported receiving a video asking for help cleaning up and getting rid of the body has been sentenced to 15 to 40 years in prison as part of a plea deal. Ash Cooper, who formerly went by Joshua Cooper and is now 18, pleaded guilty Thursday to third-degree murder and other charges in the November 2022 death of Morgan Connors in Bensalem. Bucks County prosecutors said police who responded to a trailer park that afternoon about a possible homicide were told that a teenager who was ...

Early education on crime proves vital in many instances

Pennsylvania school districts and the communities in which they reside could benefit from a special, mandatory four-session course required by the state Legislature and Department of Education, targeted for one of the junior high grades and spaced out over the course of the school year. The lead front-page article in last weekend’s Mirror — “Area sees increase in juvenile crime” — provided plenty of justification for such a special learning experience. The logical question emanating from that article is whether the Legislature and Governor’s Office would endorse the idea ...

Fired officer reinstated by arbitrator

PITTSBURGH — An arbitrator has ordered the reinstatement of a Pittsburgh police officer fired following the death of a man a day after officers used a stun gun on him during an arrest. The ruling Friday came nearly two years after the city announced its intention to fire the officer and several others in connection with the October 2021 death of Jim Rogers. The 54-year-old homeless man, stopped after a report of a bicycle theft from a home, was hit with a stun gun repeatedly over several minutes before he was taken into custody. He became unresponsive in a police car and was ...

Collision of 2 fire trucks heading to burning house injures 6 firefighters

DRUMS, Pa. (AP) — Authorities say a collision between two firetrucks responding to a blaze in northeastern Pennsylvania injured six firefighters. Officials in Luzerne County say a rescue truck from Valley Regional Fire and Rescue collided with a ladder truck from Hazle Township just before 2:30 p.m. Saturday as both were heading to the Butler Township fire. The township’s police chief, William Feissner, said two firefighters sustained “moderate injuries” and four others were slightly injured. One firefighter was taken to Geisinger Wyoming Valley and the others to Lehigh ...

No injuries as three trains collide, derail near Bethlehem

BETHLEHEM, Pa. (AP) — Authorities say three trains were involved in a collision and derailment in eastern Pennsylvania on Saturday morning that caused no reported injuries or evacuations but left some railroad cars scattered along a riverbank and at least one partially in the river. Officials in Northampton County said the derailment was reported at about 7:15 a.m. in Lower Saucon Township along the Lehigh River. The township’s police chief, Thomas Barndt, said arriving emergency personnel found “multiple trains derailed” but no reported injuries. No hazardous materials were ...

2022 Census of Agriculture data available to the public

HARRISBURG — The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS) Northeastern Regional Field Office announced the results of the 2022 Census of Agriculture with new information about 49,053 Pennsylvania farms and ranches and those who operate them, including data about on-farm decision making, down to the county level. The number of farms is down for Pennsylvania by 8% from 2017, but most of this decrease can be attributed to the mid-size farms of 50 to 179 acres being lost, according to Charles Butler, Acting Northeastern Regional Field Office ...